When Joseph Scheer, concertmaster of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra for 20 years, turned 5 years old, he received his first violin and caught his first fish on the same day. That was the beginning of two passions, one for music and the other for the thrill of the fish hunt. Both turned into professional paths for Scheer.
The "fishin' fiddler" will make his Cape Ann Symphony debut Saturday night when the symphony kicks off its 58th season, albeit with a shortened schedule due to the economic circumstances. Instead of the usual five concerts taking place two days a weekend, each concert program will be performed on one day except for the Holiday Pops.
The season opens with the program "Grand Masters," featuring Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Scheer, the guest violin soloist, makes his debut here with Beethoven's "Violin Concerto."
"The Beethoven 'Violin Concerto' is special to all musicians for its beauty and Olympian perfection, but for me it is especially so. It was a recording by the great Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux, of the Beethoven, that inspired me as a toddler to pester my parents to let me learn to play the violin. I just had to be able to do that someday," said Scheer. "That 'someday,' I'm very pleased to note, is this Saturday."
The program also includes Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" and Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 5" violin concert.
Yoichi Udagawa, who is a back-up conductor for the Boston Pops, said he's thrilled to have Scheer appear with the Cape Ann Symphony.
"He's a terrific violinist," said Udagawa, the Cape Ann Symphony's musical director and conductor. "The music in this concert features gigantic masterpieces."
Scheer has toured the United States and Japan, and has appeared on numerous occasions as soloist with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in Boston's Symphony Hall. He most recently appeared in performances of Milhaud's "Cinema Fantaisie" and the "Bruch Scottish Fantasy" with Keith Lockhart conducting, and in a performance of the Glazunov Violin Concerto under the baton of John Williams. In a 1994 broadcast, he was a featured soloist, performing the violin solo from John Williams' music for the film "Schindler's List."
Scheer, who loves fishing for striped bass, bluefish and tuna, grew up in Kansas.
"Even as a child, I dreamed of fishing in the ocean," he said. "I loved fishing even as a kid, but I wanted to live somewhere where I could fish in the ocean. Quite by accident, I later went to New England Conservatory. Once I discovered there was trout fishing and ocean fishing here, I started familiarizing myself with it and got into sports fishing."
But his musical tale began when his mother took him to a violin shop in Wichita, Kansas, where he grew up. She wanted to see if a plastic violin bow that had broken could be repaired. Scheer recalled how he received that plastic violin at the age of 41รขÑ2 after begging his mother for a violin.
The violin shop man was a bit gruff with his mother and a bit disbelieving of her seriousness. But the man's wife overhead the conversation, and asked the young Scheer if he could really play that plastic violin. To her surprise, she found he could make music on it. She realized if he could play that plastic imitation, then he could play the real instrument. She became his first teacher.
First his mother bought a $60 violin, which was about how much his father earned a week working for Coleman's, the camping supply company, which she had to explain to her husband.
"That same afternoon, my grandparents came and took me fishing for the first time in a farm pond and I caught my first bluegill and bullhead catfish. I also got my violin that same day and it set me up for life," said Scheer. "I play violin hard and then I fish hard."
When he moved to Boston and discovered there were trout in Jamaica Pond, he became interested in fly fishing.
One day while shopping at Stoddard's on Temple Place in Boston, the owner showed the young musician a bamboo fly rod, which was different than the commonly used graphite and fiberglass rods.
Stoddard's is America's oldest continuously operated fishing tackle store in operation since 1800, the year Jefferson was elected president. And now, after 204 years, Stoddard's, across from Boston Common, is closing its doors.
"He showed me this antique rod made by Edwards family in Connecticut, probably in the 1920s and it was so beautiful that I couldn't believe me eyes," recalled Scheer. "It was made like a fine violin and so elegant. I thought this is cool so I started collecting split bamboo rods by antique makers."
He also started collecting books about rod building. He now has a small company that makes split bamboo rods.
"I would have weeks at a time when I was not working, so I talked to my wife about setting up a garage to start a rod building shop," said Scheer, who hoped to create a live production shop, until he realized it was much more of an art. He now lives in northern Virginia since his wife took a job as principal harpist at the Kennedy Center in the nation's capital.
"I began to realize that rod making was more related to violin playing than I thought," he said. "The detail I bring to violin playing I'm also compelled to bring to other things. It's very different from music. You play a note and it's pretty much gone. When you make a fly rod, it's beautiful but you can use it over and over."
Gail McCarthy may be contacted at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com
CAPE ANN SYMPHONY'S 58TH CONCERT SEASON
"Grand Masters" on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m.
"Holiday Sparklers" on Saturday, Nov. 28, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 29, at 2 p.m. This concert features the Cape Ann Singers performing holiday favorites and the symphony performing holiday classics.
"Family Concert" on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m., features selections from Edward Grieg's "The Peer Gynt Suite," Gioachino Rossini's "The William Tell Overture" and Tchaikovsky's "The 1812 Overture."
"Undiscovered Mendelssohn" on Sunday, March 28, at 2 p.m. Pianists Kiyoshi Tamagawa and Jun Tuguchi perform together in Felix Mendelssohn's "Fantasy and Variations for Two Pianos." This recently discovered score by Felix Mendelssohn has not been played since its premiere in 1833 and will have its East Coast premiere at this Cape Ann Symphony performance. The program also features Mozart's Symphony No .31 "Paris" and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
"Spring POPS: POPS goes the Wizard" on Saturday, May 15, at 8 p.m. The lively concert features popular favorites such as Williams' Harry Potter, Rodgers' The King and I, von Suppe's Light Calvary Overture, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, III.
All performances take place at Fuller Auditorium at Blackburn Circle, Route 128, in Gloucester.
For information call 978-281-0543 or visit www.capeannsymphony.org
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